


should i settle in at your house?

by zimnokurw



Series: hydra never felt like home to me [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Awesome Pepper Potts, BAMF Peter Parker, Ex-Hydra, Hydra Peter Parker, Parent-in-training Tony Stark, Peter Parker is a Mess, Peter Parker-centric, Smart Peter Parker, Tony Stark Has A Heart, idk peter just tries to settle in and be okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:15:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25308115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zimnokurw/pseuds/zimnokurw
Summary: 5 times Peter stumbled on someone in the Tower +1 time someone stumbled on Peteror,how peter settles in the tower
Relationships: Clint Barton & Peter Parker, James "Bucky" Barnes & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Avengers Team, Peter Parker & Natasha Romanov, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: hydra never felt like home to me [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1713337
Comments: 20
Kudos: 624





	1. Bucky.

**Author's Note:**

> it just came to me lately, some inspiration or sth, so i decided to continue the series because i liked it.

* * *

When Peter leaves his room to grab something to eat, he notices Bucky (it still feels weird to call the Soldier _Bucky_ ) sitting at the counter and reading a newspaper. 

He almost stops, but then he notices that Bucky is alone, and only the man’s and Peter’s heartbeats sound on Stark’s floor, so he continues slowly walking. 

He actually wanted to see Bucky, the Soldier was a familiar figure, someone he used to know. No matter how much it pained him to admit that (to himself, and himself only of course) Bucky was the person he kind of trusted. Peter spent the last few days leaving for school and short patrols, but other than that, he was locked in his room talking with ZASHA, FRIDAY, and reading books. The word _locked_ wasn’t to be taken literally though, he just closed his door and didn’t feel like opening them. 

FRIDAY turned out to be pretty cool, maybe not as much as ZASHA, but she was growing in Peter’s eyes, but talking with two Artificial Intelligences while hiding in his room wasn’t too healthy, mentally speaking. So Peter wanted to see Bucky. It’s not like he would tell him that, or ask FRIDAY to notify the man. 

“Hi.” says Peter, when he still has a two steps gap between himself and Bucky. 

The man smiles in his direction when Peter walks past him and silently gets back to his newspaper. The teen goes straight to the one cabinet that is filled with cereal and avoiding untouched Lucky Charms, he pulls out Cheerios. Leaving the box of cereal on the counter, he finds himself a bowl and a spoon. Just like he does every single day since moving into the Tower.

Now that Peter thinks about it, he exchanged a few words with Stark, when they stumbled across each other on the floor they are sharing. And he had a few short talks with Bucky when the man noticed him walking to or from school. But that’s it. He never talked with any other Avenger ever since that awkward meeting in the conference room right after he moved into the Tower. Should he meet them or continue staying away?

“So, how are you settling in?” Bucky asks while Peter pours milk into his bowl where he already added cereal as the first ingredient of his meal. 

“Good, I guess.” the teen shrugs, genuinely not knowing what exactly is he expected to say. The Avengers can live in the Tower, and he can live in the Tower. It’s big enough building for them to live separately and not disturb each other.

“If you want to add anything to your room, or some new book, you just say so to FRIDAY, or directly to Stark.”

“Why do you call him Stark and not Tony?” Peter tilts his head to the left and narrows his eyes as he stares at the man sitting a few feet away from him. He abandons the carton of milk he just put down instead of placing it back into the fridge, and he forgets about the bowl of cereal he holds in his hands. For now, this is a more important matter and Peter needs to know why is Bucky calling Stark by his last name if he claims they’re friends? In Peter’s experience, you call your friends by their name or a nickname. Peter was using last names when he was in the HYDRA Base, talking to Agents and Doctors there. Using someone’s last name is a sign of respect for a higher rank, like when a student talks to their teacher. 

“I think I just got used to it.” Bucky sounds like he answers to himself too. Like he never quite caught that and now that it’s pointed out to him, he can’t think of any particular reason. “To calling people by their last name.” he adds. “I also barely call Barton _Clint_ , but I almost never call Sam _Wilson_.” the man shrugs, and Peter wonders that maybe it just suits them better. He just can’t tell, because he doesn’t know them well enough. 

“I gotta go.” says Peter. He doesn’t want to wonder whether he’ll get to know the Avengers, he doesn’t want to know them. They were supposed to be his enemy. What difference does it make which of their names suits them better? He needs to get back to his room, Peter thinks, as his feet are already moving. He puts the milk back to the fridge before he knows it, and moves towards his bedroom at the end of the hallway. “I’m reading a book about the inherent link between thermodynamics and electrochemistry.” he explains, when he feels Bucky’s gaze on him.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the 1st chapter ended up being short?? cuz peter just starts adjusting ya know?? but it'll be getting longer


	2. Agent Romanov.

* * *

“ZASHA, do you have eyes in the Tower?” Peter asks out loud, lying on the floor in his bedroom and looking out on the Manhattan streets through the window-wall. 

It’s really cool how he can see what’s happening outside, but people from outside can’t see what’s on the inside. It’s something like cops have in the interrogation rooms. A one-way window has a reflective coating applied in a very thin, sparse layer - so thin that it's called a half-silvered surface. The name comes from the fact that the reflective molecules coat the glass so sparsely that only about half the molecules needed to make the glass an opaque mirror are applied. At the molecular level, there are reflective molecules speckled all over the glass in an even film but only half of the glass is covered. Peter did his research. 

“Yes, Peter. Do you want to access the live camera?” 

“FRIDAY didn’t kick you out yet?” Peter turns his position and now lying on his back, he looks up at the ceiling with a frown on his face. He thought ZASHA would tell him that she needs a minute to get back in. 

“Boss allowed you to have access to the camera feed.” answers the AI in question, surprising Peter even more.

“Really?” he asks, more to himself than anything else, but FRIDAY catches that anyway.

“He believes that having eyes in the Tower may make you feel safer and more confident.” she explains.

Peter sits up, crosses his leg, and shrugs. Whatever. “ZASHA, can you see if there’s anything in this Tower that could be fun for me?” the teen asks because he knows about nothing regarding the building he lives in, and there isn’t a better time for a little tour than 8 pm on a Saturday. 

“I think you’d enjoy visiting a gym.” answers the boy’s AI and he’s on his feet immediately. Time for an adventure.

Peter was already dressed in sweatpants so he doesn’t need to change into anything more comfortable. The teen grabs only his wireless earbuds, so ZASHA, present in the watch he’s wearing, could talk directly into his ear instead of out loud. Leaving his phone on his bed, the boy leaves the room, following Z’s directions.

-

After a quick trip down, and finding out that apparently his biometric scans allow him to walk around the Tower without a clearance ID, Peter walks into the gym. 

The room is big and the ceiling seems to be high as if the gym took more than one floor. It’s also almost as if someone cut the room in half because one part reminds Peter of a gym in school, just empty room with the floor covered in a rubber mat, it’s most likely for some sparrings. The other part of the room though is well equipped in all sorts of machines. For building muscles, as well as improving speed. Peter sees stationary bikes, treadmills. Also all kinds of weights, alone and with benches, punching bag, and even CrossFit rack. There are machines that Peter never saw before, has no idea how they’re called, _and_ how to train on them.

The teen also sees Black Widow inside. She’s in the corner of the room where a machine stands and she’s doing pull-ups. She does it gracefully like it wasn’t a hard exercise but a choreography for her. But her body is heated, there’s just a little bit of sweat, and she breaths tired. So, in conclusion, Peter knows she must’ve been here for quite some time, and it can’t be her first series of pull-ups either. Around fifth, most likely. And she probably was doing the deadlift before, because there’s a loaded barbell placed in the same corner the woman is in, and in a way that suggests it’s been used a few minutes ago. Peter can’t read the past, but he can read the room, HYDRA taught him that. 

The teen knows also that the Black Widow must be aware of his presence, but she chooses to ignore him, so he does the same. He just lets his eyes trace around all the machines. 

“You good there, Spider-Man?” the woman speaks up finally, and she jumps down from the pull-up bar. It doesn’t really take any effort for her, but she lands with finesse. 

That’s just her. Assassin spy. Sleeper agent. That’s how she moves, it’s been coded into her DNA. 

“Yeah.” answers the teen dismissively. He kinda likes Black Widow. She’s cool. She’s just human, without any enhancements, but she’s about the most badass of everyone in the Avengers Team. 

“Wanna help me?” Agent Romanov asks, as she grabs a white towel and wipes the little sweat there is from her forehead. She nods towards a bench where she’s then sitting down, about to lie on her back and grab a barbell with extra weight. 

“Ugh.” Peter looks around the gym but they are the only two inside, and when you’re training on the weight bench, you should have a person to assist you in case something goes wrong. “Okay.” he mutters and hurries to where the woman already laid down.

Black Widow reaches for the barbell, and Peter watches carefully how every muscle in her hands moves. To have a quick reaction, in case anything happens. 

Why would she trust him with this though? Ex-HYDRA Agent who’s enhanced and could strangle her any second now from where he’s standing? 

The woman lifts the weights for the fifth time, controlling her breathing when she speaks up again. “So you an assassin, or a spy too?” talking while exercising doesn’t seem to bother her. 

“Both, Agent Romanov.” the teen answers with respect. 

“Just call me Natasha.” the Black Widow almost smirks as she says it. 

“Alright, Natasha.” 

The Avenger gets back to training in silence, while Peter still carefully watches over her. It’s quiet, but it’s not awkward. The boy feels peaceful, with the open space around him, and the easy atmosphere, and Natasha’s controlled breathing that somewhere along the way he found himself copying. 

When the few minutes pass and the Black Widow is done, Peter takes the barbell from her hands and puts it back in place. 

“What are you doing here?” the woman asks as she sits up on the bench. She just sounds interested though, not like she doesn't want him here. 

“Touring, I guess.” he shrugs.

“You might want to stop by the theater room, then.” Natasha stands up, reaching for her towel, but instead of using it, she’s just gathering it. Like she’s done with her workout and is getting ready to leave. “Have a nice tour.” she adds when she heads to the door.

And if Peter takes her advice, finding a theater room barely five minutes later, nobody needs to know.

  
  



	3. Captain America.

* * *

It’s a sunny day. Moreover, a weekend day and Peter is finished with all his homework, so he doesn’t really feel like sitting on a bean bag in his bedroom. 

“You could always go out on the balcony, Mr. Holland.” offers FRIDAY. 

And here’s the thing, the AI rarely addresses Peter with a use of his name, but when she does, she says  _ Mr. Holland _ , and with each time Peter is a step closer to hacking her and changing the word  _ Boss _ to  _ Mr. Anthony Edward _ , just to see what would be Stark’s reaction. 

“Could you maybe not call me that, FRI?’ he asks instead, opting to be polite. It’s also the easy way though. He has no idea if he would be able to hack into FRIDAY and pull off something like that. With ZASHA’s help? Okay. But alone? He’s not so sure.

“What would you like me to call you, then?” the AI answers. 

“Ugh.” he didn’t know it would be that easy. FRIDAY really is cool. “Just Peter?” he winces at how unsure of himself he sounds.

“Alright then, Peter.” he knows that AIs aren’t real people, but he’s pretty sure that he can hear a smile in that answer. 

Pleased with the way he dealt with his problem, he decides that  _ sure, he’ll go on the balcony, why not.  _ He can catch some sun, seeing as he has a light skin tone, and most of the time he’s outside he’s wearing a mask. He’ll breathe in some New York’s  _ dirty _ air, full of exhaust fumes. Oh, and he can finally get back to the book he bought when he was with Ned, walking around the mall and trying to find a present Ned could give his father for Mr. Leeds’ birthday.

Showing his phone into his pocket, Peter grabs that specific book. There are a pencil and post-it index tabs inside, that he uses for making notes and marking important pages, so he makes sure not to forget it, and walks out of his room. 

Peter knows that Stark is in his office, making phone calls and dealing with something regarding his Company’s facility in Paris, so he walks a bit faster than usual, to get out and  _ be _ out. He moves through the hallway, seeing as his room is at the end of one, and then crosses through the open space that connects the kitchen, dining room, and living room. 

The entrance to the balcony is from the lounge, so Peter walks past the couch, armchairs, and the coffee table, and opens the glass door. Taking the first step outside, the teen notices Captain America, standing almost at the other end of the balcony, looking down at the city, and drawing something in a sketchbook. 

And seeing the man, Peter doesn’t feel the need to stop or go back to his bedroom. He’s kinda proud of himself for that. Besides, Rogers is the Soldier’s best friend since childhood, whether Peter likes it or not. He can suck it up and at least try to tolerate Mr. Good and Righteous, for Bucky’s sake.

It’s the first time Peter is on the balcony, to be honest, so he looks around, taking in where and what is standing. And when he notices an outdoor daybed in dark grey polypropylene rope and with cushions standing not far from him, he’s ready to claim it as his and his only. 

Being careful of his book and the additional supplies in his left hand, he gracefully jumps on the daybed. First, he lies the post-it index tabs next to himself for when he’ll need it, and then he gets cozy, placing one of the comfortable cushions from under his head on his stomach, and opening the book where he last finished reading it.

He’s not even one page in when he hears Captain America’s steps towards him, and the man takes a seat that is the closest to Peter. The teen knows that Rogers is about to say something before the Captain’s voice sounds. It’s the way his breathing changes when he’s forming a sentence. Most people don’t even realize it, but they tend to take a deeper breath prior to speaking up, especially if they were silent for dozens of minutes before that.

“What are you reading there?” the man asks. Wow, small talk top-notch. The tone of his voice sounds friendly though. That causes Peter to put his pencil inside the book and lie it down on the cushion still resting on his stomach. He leaves the book open though, print to the top to suggest that he’d like to get back to reading it pretty soon  _ if your patriotic majesty wouldn’t mind, please. _

“Thermodynamics and Electrified Interfaces.” answers Peter, looking up at Rogers. 

“Oh, that’s not my subject then.” laughs awkwardly the man. “You could talk with Bruce about that, I’m pretty sure he has a Ph.D. in that field.” he adds.

“He has PhDs in Biochemistry, Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Nuclear Physics, Particle Physics, Material Sciences, and MD.” Peter lists, having no idea what is he supposed to talk about with a man who should be a hundred years old. Somehow, even though Rogers and Bucky were born around the same time, Peter doesn’t see Bucky as a grandpa. Captain America on the other hand… yeah, Peter isn’t even afraid to bet that the guy can probably knit.

“You know all that?” the Captain sounds impressed.

“Yeah, well, he  _ is _ the genius of our generation.” Peter shrugs like it’s not a big deal. He just doesn’t want to go deeper into this subject. He’s not about to admit to an Avenger that he wrote a paper on Bruce Banner. Because the thing is, Dr. Banner is really cool.  _ Just as long as he doesn’t turn into Hulk.  _ Peter decides to close his book, and he does that, pulling himself up a bit to sit cross-legged. He lies his book in the same place where he left the post-it index tabs, and he hugs the cushion from his stomach to himself, as he looks up at Rogers again. “Can I ask you something?” 

“Sure.”

“Why did you join SHIELD?” the teen tilts his head to the left before he can remember that Michelle said it makes him look like a confused puppy. When Captain America is about to open his mouth, Peter speaks once again. “But really. Not the patriotic banter, but a real reason. Was it because when they found you and woke you up, they also gave you a roof over your head and some kind of purpose? Did they order you to join them?”

The man lowers his head slowly, sighs, and looks back up at Peter. He seems more tired than at the beginning of their conversation, so Peter guesses that he was probably conflicted about joining the organization or has bad memories about that time. The teen wouldn’t be surprised though. The guy woke up 70 years into the future, with most if not all of his friends dead, new and confusing technology, and a whole lot of events he had no idea about. To say he wasn’t jumping from happiness would be an understatement. 

“To be honest, I was lost and confused. At first… yes, I think I needed a purpose, I needed to throw myself into something I knew and was good at, not to think about all this crazy future. And that were missions. Going to SHIELD and following orders gave me some kind of stability, it felt almost normal.”

The Captain sounds sincere. His face expressions seem genuine - like he’s just now remembering what happened each day after he woke up, and like he’s just now drawing conclusions. Maybe the man isn’t so bad, Peter thinks, Bucky wouldn’t be best friends with a bad person, after all. 

Peter thinks that Rogers’s answer makes sense, that he can understand the Captain’s logic. He wonders why the man used words ‘at first’ though, what changed, and when exactly. If he’s now at ease with the society, if it doesn’t confuse him, what motivates him to risk his life in non-stopping battles? Is he like Peter? Just a little bit? 

Peter is a Spider-Man, and Rogers is Captain America. Is there something similar that drives them to do what they do?

Peter is about to ask, about today and today’s team of the Avengers, but then he hears Stark coming out on the Balcony. “Cap, I have 20 minutes for you now.” the man says, texting someone on his phone. 

“Alright.” mutters Rogers under his nose and gets up. “It was nice talking to you.” he smiles at Peter, and the teenager nods at him. 

“Peter, how are you on homework?” Stark asks, hiding his phone in his pocket. 

“All done.”

“That’s the spirit.” sounds the man. “Okay Rogers, come on, I got a conference call in half an hour.” he hurries Captain as they walk back into the penthouse.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they didn't say what exactly are bruce's 7 PhDs so i made them up


	4. Pepper Potts.

* * *

The elevator’s doors open and Peter walks into the penthouse. The day at school wasn’t terrible, but he fell asleep on Physics again and Ms. Warren gave him an extra assignment as a punishment. It’s not that he doesn’t respect the woman. And it’s not that he was tired. It’s just that he already studied linear acceleration and it’s not only easy but also boring for him at this point.

The teen sighs as he thinks about it while playing with a strap of his backpack.

“You must be Peter.” sounds warm, female voice. Peter can’t believe he’s been so deep in his own head he didn’t notice anyone’s presence. Why isn’t Spider-Man’s _stranger_ _danger_ sense working?

And it’s not  _ just _ anyone either. It’s Pepper Potts in the flash. 

The only time he saw her in person was the unfortunate day of a field trip. This is the first time he meets her since he moved in. She was in Paris for the last few weeks, dealing with something regarding SI’s facility there. That’s why Stark was so busy lately, Ms. Potts flew to Paris, but Stark was helping her from New York.

Peter has no idea what to do now. He’d like the floor to swallow him but sadly, that’s not possible, so he just stays frozen in one place, not daring to blink. 

Ms. Potts sits in the dining room, at the big table, and has half of it covered in some documents. Some of them loose papers, and some of them in folders. 

“Good afternoon, ma’am.” speaks up Peter when he realizes that it’d be rude not to. 

“Oh, no.” the CEO of Stark Industries says with a smile on her face and gets up from her chair. “Just call me Pepper, please.” she asks, taking a step towards Peter and holding her hand out, so it has the teen walking to her in a matter of seconds and shaking her hand.

“Alright.” he nods politely.

“Tony explained everything to me, don’t worry.” Pepper states, gesturing for Peter to take a seat, and she does the same, getting back to the chair she abandoned half a minute ago. “This is as much your home as mine, I want you to know that, and to feel comfortable here.”

Pepper is Tony’s fiancée if Peter’s not mistaken, but from what he knows they already act as if they were married for 10 years. 

“Thank you.” the boy says. He’s touched and impressed, to be honest. Pepper comes back from a business trip to find out that now she and her fiancé have a kid living with them – a kid that was a bad person, that has killed before – and she greets him with open arms. 

“You’re welcome, sweetheart.” the woman smiles again and grabs a red folder with papers that lies the closest to her. “How was school?” she asks, opening it and looking for a specific document inside.

“Okay.” Peter shrugs. “I got a lot to do from Physics, though.” he adds, lifting his right hand and pointing somewhere behind himself, to suggest that he needs to go.

“Alright.” Pepper nods. “Just maybe grab yourself a snack first, to have the energy for that.” she suggests.

The teen went to Delmar’s with Ned after school and ate a sandwich from there, so he’s not really hungry, but he decides to go with it. He just grabs greek yogurt smoothie, mango flavored. It’s sweet and it can fill your stomach, so he can drink it while he’ll be doing the assignment for Ms. Warren.

“Oh, one last thing.” Peter hears when he’s walking away from the closed fridge, so he turns around and waits for Pepper to continue. “Tony told me how you boys ate all meals.” Peter ate alone at whatever hour he wanted, thank you. It’s good, he’s happy with that. Sitting with Stark at one table and eating breakfast or dinner together would be extremely awkward. The man spent most of his time either in his office or in the lab and the interactions that Peter had with him with this routine were enough for the teen. “From today we’re eating dinner at this table, all three of us.” the woman announces and Peter is pretty sure all the blood just disappeared from his face and he’s white as a sheet. “We live together, so we eat together.”

Peter just nods. Besides, he likes Pepper, maybe her presence will make the meal less awkward than it’d be if he were alone with Stark.

“I’m not great in the kitchen, but I can get by, so uh, if anything… I can help.” he offers, trying to be polite once again. He knows that he’s never gonna become a chef, but he had to take care of himself, so he taught himself how to cook the easiest things. 

“I think today we’re just going to order in, but I will hold you to that.” Pepper smiles warmly at the teen and he relaxes, smiling back, and nodding. “Alright, go make your homework. FRIDAY will let you know when to come in case you’ll be still working.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next is going to be clint, and then tony. i'm not sure when exactly but soon.


	5. Agent Barton.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> at first i thought about doing chapter with wanda, but then i remembered that clint is not appreciated enough so here we are

* * *

Peter hears the sound of someone playing video games on the Avengers floor, while he’s grabbing himself raspberries from the bowl on the kitchen counter. He eats a few of them, figuring out that whoever is playing a video game is alone. He doesn’t hear anyone else there even when he’s focusing, and he trusts his senses. 

Below the floor where Peter, Stark, and Pepper live is a floor dedicated to the lab and lab stuff only, so the teen goes even lower, but he gets to the Avengers floor. 

He took the stairs instead of the elevator, so when he slowly walks into the room, the man sitting on the couch and focused on the TV screen doesn’t seem to notice him. Peter recognizes the Avenger as Agent Barton - Hawkeye though, and decides that maybe he knows the teen is here, just isn’t acknowledging him.

Peter takes a look around and it seems like the floor plan is pretty similar to the penthouse. Just furnished differently and there’s stuff lying around that belongs to the Avengers Team, while in the penthouse it reflects a genius, CEO, and teenager. The boy takes a few cautious steps as if the floor was about to give out under his legs any second. His eyes trace from two knives on the kitchen counter that definitely aren’t kitchen knives to an old book on a console table. The common room is tidy and organized, but there’s something messy and lived-in about it.

“You wanna join me?” asks Agent Barton from where he’s still sitting on a couch, eyes glued to the TV screen. Before answering, Peter tries to listen closely, to check and make sure he didn’t miss any heartbeat on this floor. His  _ stranger danger _ sense hasn’t been working too well lately. “Everyone’s out, they left me behind.” answers him Hawkeye even though he didn’t ask that question out loud. “I could really use some company.” he adds as an encouragement. 

“Sure.” answers Peter, seeing that Agent Barton has Mario Kart opened and ready to play.

“Grab yourself a controller.” the man nods his head in the direction where a few of them lays on a coffee table, on a shelf under the table top.

Seeing that Hawkeye has a black controller, Peter grabs a white one and sits down on the same couch as the Avenger, but leaving a safe amount of space between them.

They choose  _ 2 players’ game  _ setting and select Mario GP for now, deciding to change it in case the need arises. Choosing the player, Agent Barton quickly goes for Luigi, and Peter decides on Toad. After they select the map, they are ready to race. 

Peter takes the lead quickly, with Hawkeye tracing right behind him, but then he hears some small explosion from the lab and when that distracts him, Luigi takes over, for a moment even throwing Toad into third place. Seeing that, Peter focuses again and fights with his fingers on a controller. 

“Hey, where do you think you’re driving, lil man?” Agent Barton asks, on the edge of his seat, trying not to lose his dominance but noticing that he’s not doing the best job.

“To victory.” smirks fiercely the teen, and Barton snorts at that. 

When they’re in the middle of the last lap, Peter takes the lead once again, but not seeming like he’s going to give it away this time. “I invited you here cause I thought you would lose.“ Clint whines, but he’s still not giving up.

“Yout thought wrong.” answers Peter as he finishes the race. “Apparently.” he adds when results appear on the screen, with Toad as the winner.

“No respect from the youth today…” Agent Barton sighs dramatically. “Another round?” he asks quickly, and Peter agrees with a slight smile on his face. 

They play two more rounds, with Hawkeye managing to win once, but then Peter gets a text message from Ned and remembers that they have a FaceTime call scheduled to work on their homework together, so he thanks Agent Barton for the fun game, and after the man insists that Peter called him Clint, the teen gets up from the couch to head for the stairs.

“So, you doing okay here in the Tower?” Clint asks while Peter reaches to put the white controller back where he took it from.

“Actually... I think I am.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no beta we die like men,,
> 
> the last chapter will be with tony and i'll post it in like about two minutes


	6. Tony Stark.

* * *

It’s 3 am and Peter could not fall asleep. He tossed around, left and right, and listened to relaxing music, and counted a hundred sheep. But his brain just wouldn’t shut up. The teen was tired, yes, but he could not for the love of all gods close his eyes and drift away to sleep.

That’s how he ended up in Tony Stark’s lab.

In HYDRA, when Peter couldn’t sleep, he would go the lab and solve the unfinished problems on a whiteboard, or test some theory he read about a few days ago, and stay there until either he fell asleep on his table or the sun came up. Sometimes it just helped to _be_ in the workshop. There’s something grounding about the smell of the oil, the tools lying around in a logical mess, about equations on boards as well as sheets of paper and glass walls, and machines or bots finished or in progress. That’s something that can calm Peter down, that makes him feel not only safe but as if he _for_ _once_ belongs in the space he stands in.

That’s who he wanted to be, after all, a scientist. To spend his days and nights in a lab, experimenting, and inventing stuff. But then they gave him ‘the bite’ and told him that from now on, he’s going to be a Field Agent first, and he can mess around in the workshop occasionally.

Peter doesn’t want to break anything in Stark’s lab, and he doesn’t want to take something and then put it in the wrong place. The teen knows that Stark doesn’t like people in his workshop, he even gave Dr. Banner his own lab on a different floor so they _could_ work together sometimes but didn’t have to.

But Peter couldn’t go down to the SI’s labs and let some cameras record him, he didn’t want to get in trouble. And he hasn’t been to any other than school lab ever since he moved into the Tower. That’s why he just sits at one of Stark’s tables, the one that is the least messy, and he doesn’t touch anything. He brought a book and his favorite spiral notebook with him, so he’s reading the book and making notes. 

The notebook he brought with himself is reserved for physical chemistry. He keeps there notes on that field only, because it’s his favorite. It’s focused on understanding the physical properties of atoms and molecules, the way chemical reactions work, and what these properties reveal. Physical chemists generally have a strong curiosity about how things work at the atomic level and enjoy working with lab instrumentation and machines. Which screams - _Peter_. The teen is also drawn to the fact that physical chemistry processes are similar to those of engineering. He finished reading “Thermodynamics and Electrified Interfaces” lately, so now he’s digging deeper into Binding of Divalent Cations to Insulin - Capillary Electrophoresis and Molecular Simulations.

It’s a really interesting topic, and Peter just started it, but he already knows that he will try to find every possible article about that. Unfortunately, the teen got so caught up in the chapter, he didn’t notice that a certain billionaire genius came into his own workshop and leaned against the door frame, watching the teenage intruder.

“Why are you up, kid?” Tony Stark’s voice startles the boy. He looks up in the middle of a sentence he was writing down in his notebook and curses his spider-sense for not warning him ( _not for the first time, too_ ).

“Did FRIDAY tell on me?” 

“No, I noticed you weren’t in your room and I asked her.” the man answers, taking a few steps closer to Peter. He seems like he woke up ten minutes ago. 

“Why were you in my room in the first place?” Peter frowns, lying his pen down to mark where did he end reading the book. 

“To check on you, don’t change the subject.” Stark answers, sitting down on a chair a few feet away from Peter. He tilts his head in a way that suggests he’s waiting for an answer, and Peter turns back to his stuff, correcting the way his notebook was positioned. 

“I couldn’t fall asleep.” he murmurs. He’s not going to tell Stark that his thoughts were drifting back to bad days at the base and that he couldn’t shut them down. That he couldn’t fall asleep because, to be honest, he was scared of what nightmare he’d have if he did.

“What you got there?” the man changes the subject, obviously seeing that Peter doesn’t want to talk about it and that it makes him uncomfortable. It’s nice of him. Instead of dwelling on it - he leans a bit, to steal a look into Peter’s notebook.

“Physical chemistry.”

The genius nods. “You know, I have advanced degrees in physics and engineering.” he says, as if expectantly. Almost as a question, but Peter doesn’t know the question. 

“Yeah, I know, Stark.” the teen answers. He could’ve been surprised that the man has advanced degrees and not one Ph.D., but it’s Tony Stark. He doesn’t need any board of people to tell him how smart he is or isn’t. He knows that he’s smarter than all of them. 

“I’m saying if you need any help or want to do some experiment… let me know.” 

“Uh.” that’s a surprise. Doctors in the base didn’t like it when Peter was interrupting them. He could sit at his own table and watch, sometimes help them a little, but they would never waste their time on him if he needed something. “Okay.” 

“And by the way, stop calling me Stark.” the man says, as he grabs Peter’s notebook and looks at the front page.

“Why?” Peter usually shares his work only with Ned or MJ. And the teachers, of course, but they don’t really count. He’s not keen on showing his work to everyone around him, there never was any people interested in it. But he finds that he doesn’t really mind if Stark takes a look. 

“Because you can just call me Tony.” Tony would be casual, while Stark is respectful and grateful. Not that Peter will explain it to Stark like that. He was never supposed to respect, nor admire Tony Stark.

“You call people by their last name all the time.” he says instead. “Like Barton, or Romanov, or Barnes.” he lists. Stark mostly calls people by their last name or a nickname he came up with. 

“Don’t take me as your example.” the engineer says, half-serious, half-amused. “I wasn’t always the best guy.” he adds while turning the page in Peter’s notebook. 

“But you changed, though.” the teen argues, but he sounds a bit like he’s asking a question. “Doesn’t it count?” he adds. His voice hesitating a little and he really does want to know the answer. He was a bad guy. Does this mean nothing if he’s out of HYDRA’s base now and doing better?

“It does.” answers Stark. “Yes, it does.” he looks up at Peter. “You can just have a hard time convincing yourself that.” the man’s face is sympathetic like he knows that Peter will struggle with that matter at some point. LIke he did himself. Or still does. “It’s good.” he adds, lifting Peter’s notebook and getting back to it. 

“Binding of Divalent Cations to Insulin.”

“Yeah, that’s a good topic. Not so common.” while strong binding sites exist for Zn2+ at the site formed by three B10-chain histidines of three insulin monomers, much less is known about the interactions of insulin with Ca2+, which is present in the granules at even higher concentrations than Zn2+. Stark is right, it isn’t so common, that’s why it interests Peter so much. “How did you get in the lab, anyway?” the man asks the question Peter hoped to avoid. 

“ZASHA might have opened the door.”

“Oh, ZASHA.” Stark says, sighing dramatically. Like he wants to sarcastically say that in this case, Peter is innocent and forgiven. “You can’t just hack your way around the Tower, kid.” the man’s voice is serious now. “We need to trust each other.” he adds, and he doesn’t sound like he’s really scolding Peter but something makes the teen feel disappointed with himself anyway - because he knows that he disappointed Stark who trusted him and gave him clearance to a lot of rooms in the building. It’s not a good feeling.

“Defender of the people.” Peter says as an apology because Stark asked him two times what the AI’s acronym stands for. 

“Hm?” the engineer narrows his eyes.

“ZASHA, that’s what it means.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you liked it because i certainly enjoyed getting back to this universe and writing this fic!!

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me on my tumblr: remi-briggs


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